20. Ash
Chapter 20
Ash
Jerek’s muscles strained in his black clothes as we wove down a long hallway before entering a darkened room. Diesel walked by my side, with his coat slung over my still-bleeding shoulders. I hadn’t bothered to put my shoes back on and padded over the clean floors with dirty feet.
The lights weren’t as blinding as everywhere else in the mansion. Maximus stood in the middle of the room with four guards behind his back.
“You can wait outside,” Maximus directed Jerek.
Jerek nodded, shooting me one last glance before the door snicked shut. My heart pounded in my ears as I waited for someone to speak. The King moved closer, his hand caressing his chin as he examined me.
“You are a wonder, granddaughter. ”
I glanced at Diesel, his mouth in a hard line, before looking back at the King.
“Do you know much about your father?” Maximus asked.
I shook my head.
“I loved my son very much. He was the only child I was ever blessed with. I was present in his upbringing, and I taught him everything that he could have ever wanted to know. I intended for him to be King one day. He held great promise and was smarter than any of the boys he grew up with. I even arranged a marriage for him with a girl who adored him, and do you know what he did with all of that? He threw it away. He had the world in his hands and he threw it away, all for the love of a blonde woman. Of course, I didn’t know about this. I thought he was out learning about the people, not cheating on his wife. I didn’t know, until Liam started acting strange, and I had Captain Etan follow him. And what did I find? A little blonde girl staying in the blonde facility, whom Liam was seen reading stories to and hugging. Things only went downhill from there. Liam betrayed me and undermined my authority. He released the blondes upon my estate, where they killed dozens of guards and his own wife. He always was soft and wanted to do things differently, but I never would have imagined he was capable of bringing so much death upon my grounds.”
So, that’s where I had been the years before Nan and Pop. But if Liam wasn’t with me all the time, then who was? I wished so badly I could remember something…anything. I crossed my arms over my chest and squeezed my arms below where my shoulder still leaked blood into Diesel’s coat.
“I need to talk to my son, and Gabriel believes you are the only one that can find him. Unfortunately, I think he is right. I’m sure he has already filled you in on our deal. You help me find Liam and keep the war at bay, and I will let Gabriel rule as he sees fit.”
I couldn’t find my father and turn him in. I couldn’t believe he was as bad as they said. I pursed my lips and stared at anything but my grandfather. My own blood but that didn’t seem like it mattered to him.
Maximus chuckled. “I can see the defiance in your eyes. Do you thirst for more death?”
My nostrils flared. “No.”
“Then surely you don’t want the war that is coming. If we find Liam, we can stop all the death that is coming. If that is not enough, I will give you a little extra motivation. Liam, or—what do you call her again… Oh yes. Nan.”
My eyes shot to Diesel, whose eyes stared at the floor. He had warned me, and somehow the words still shocked me, even with all the adrenaline still coursing through my body. How could he stand by and allow this? Nan was as much a grandmother to him as she was to me. The reason she was supposed to come with us…the reason soldiers stood guard over her when we left Cedar Hill. Fury built inside of me like a crashing wave of lava burning my chest. It all felt too real now.
“I know you are skeptical of all this. It just serves as extra…motivation for you to find him. If you do, all will be well.”
“Except for Liam?” I asked.
“I only want to speak to him. It has been fifteen years since I last saw him. He may be a traitor, but he is still my son, after all.”
I didn’t believe that he only wanted to speak to him.
Maximus peered down at me with evil blue eyes that matched my own. “If you can find him and prove you are truly different from the other blondes, then you will be the future Queen, and Nan stays alive.”
My breaths came hard. “My little show tonight didn’t prove enough?” I spat as blood dripped down my fingertips and onto the floor.
Maximus scrunched his nose up. “That wasn’t nearly long enough and didn’t prove a thing. Those weapons weren’t supposed to be there, and I will find out who put them there.”
“You don’t have control of your own household?” I challenged.
Pure, livid anger flowed over his face, making the veins in his neck pop and I knew I’d struck a nerve.
“I’ll accept your terms on two conditions,” I continued.
He raised his eyebrows, some of the anger fading. “You’re not in much of a position to barter, but I’ll entertain your idea.”
“You brought me here, engaged to Gabriel , so that you could convince the blondes that you were on their side and placate the rebels, did you not?”
His eyes narrowed.
“I’m not stupid. If you truly want to convince them, then stop hunting them for the time being.”
He scratched his chin and turned to meet Diesel’s eyes. Diesel finally looked up at me, but I was numb to the betrayal that he kept showering down upon me. He would get his soon enough.
“What do you say, Gabriel? This is under your command.”
Diesel nodded.
“Then it has been decided. What is your second condition?”
“If I am going to find Liam, then I am going to need freedom to go wherever I see fit. I can’t find him locked in my room all the time. ”
He paused and then nodded. “I agree to your terms, as long as a guard remains with you at all times, but one more thing…”
The door burst open and Kane sauntered in.
“Ah, Kane…just in time,” Maximus said.
Kane stepped up to my side without so much as a glance at me. All I could think about was Will dying at his hands and the night we met in the rain. The rain had dripped down his blonde locks as I caressed the back of his neck. I couldn’t believe I’d done that to a perfect stranger.
If I told the King that Kane was blonde right now…what would happen? Would I expose a perfectly kept secret, or would the King look at me like I was a fool again because he already knew? Something kept me biting my tongue. I could use his secret to tear everything apart at the right time.
“Seems that you are out of a job.” Maximus addressed Kane. “We are putting an indefinite hold on the reward for blondes. No more rewards means no more bounty hunters.”
Maximus’s eyes turned to me while he still spoke to Kane. “Instead, you will remain here and train Ash, to ensure she is as innocent as she is believed to be.”
I knew it was coming, and I still cringed at the thought of being anywhere near Kane.
“Of course, sir,” Kane said.
“Well, Gabriel, shall we get back to the party?”
Diesel nodded, and his eyes remained on me.
“Kane, please escort Asha back to her room; she is bleeding all over the floor.”
The King and his guards moved past us, and Diesel stepped in front of me. He placed a gentle kiss on my cheek while I stood still, staring at the ground. “We’ll talk later,” he whispered.
The door shut after the guards trailed out behind Maximus and Diesel, silencing the room. The only noise was Kane’s breaths beside me. I didn’t dare look at him.
I was caged in a room with the beast of a man who had sacrificed countless blonde lives to the King and killed Will, but he saved me tonight.
Questions lingered in the back of my mind. Where were all the blondes? Ryan said they were in the Pit, but what was that? What was the King using them for? If Kane was blonde, that meant…that meant he had special abilities, too. Why had he helped me?
“Come on, Blondie. I’ll take you to your room.” He opened the door and gestured for me to exit. I kept my eyes down with all the realizations that struck me. He moved gracefully down the hallway, his black boots echoing off the pristine marble floors. I followed, with Jerek behind me, who had been waiting outside the door.
Kane took me to the medical building without a word, and another doctor, who wasn’t Jones, patched up my shoulders and gave me a shot of antibiotics. Kane stood, watching silently, until we were through, and then he threw Diesel’s jacket in the garbage. He put his own around my shoulders before we continued back to the mansion.
When we reached my room, Kane strode inside like he owned the place, locking Jerek outside after I followed him in. So much for protecting me—the person I needed the most protection from stood in front of me. His eyes danced over my face, imploring me.
He finally let out a sigh. “We’ll be training early every morning.”
I nodded. “Fine.” All I wanted to ask him about was Will, but I had to be careful. I couldn’t reveal all of my cards now. I had to hold tight to them until the right time, ask the right questions .
“Does the King know about your secret?” I asked, swaying on a very dangerous line.
His jaw hardened. “No… And I’d rather like to keep it that way.” The King didn’t know. I could tell him right now and get Kane out of my hair forever. Did that make it so much worse? What he did? Hunting down his own people? Why did he trust me with this? An error on his part, I was sure.
“I think the King might want to know.” What was I doing? Provoking a man like him could be very dangerous, but then again, I had never been one to take the safe route.
He prowled closer to me, and I backed away until I hit the wall. He leaned closer until our bodies were a hair’s width apart. The closer he got, the more imperfections I saw in his face. Small scars speckled his skin, and his nose hung at a crooked angle. He was devastatingly handsome in his flaws. I found myself comparing him to Jerek and Diesel, whose faces screamed perfection. He wasn’t perfect—far from it—but his rough edges called to my damaged heart even more. His scarred fists clenched at his sides.
“Don’t threaten me, Blondie.” His lips moved so close to mine that I could taste the sweet alcohol on his breath.
“You stand for everything that I hate. You hurt people…people that are the same as you.”
“I’ve never hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it.”
“Do you think I deserved what I got tonight? The blonde Princess pitted against her worst nightmare?”
“No.” A muscle twitched above his jaw.
“But you’re the reason it happened, aren’t you? There’s no way the King could have gotten a cougar to use against me like that if he hadn’t known prior to me coming here. You told him about Rollins, didn’t you? ”
He glanced away, confirming my suspicions. “You were only another blonde that got away. No one of consequence. How was I supposed to know you were the Princess of Novum? As for the cougar, the King has a sick sense of entertainment. He has caged predators to use at his disposal in that arena to force blondes to show their abilities when he feels like he needs a show. You weren’t the first. When he found out about your escapades this summer, well, he had just the tool to break you.”
“Except he didn’t,” I spat.
“No, but there is something there. Isn’t there?” He looked me over.
“If there is, why wouldn’t you want the cougar to have pulled it out of me tonight? Why help me?” I asked before he could question me any further about my ability.
He huffed softly. “I take great pride in finding the blondes’ abilities that are harder to crack. I wanted that privilege for myself.”
Cocky bastard. He was only worried about his reputation. I narrowed my eyes at him.
“And as for you not dying, I have my reasons for ensuring your survival.”
I stared at him, expecting more, and when he simply stared back, I spoke. “Care to enlighten me?”
His lips twitched, and he sucked in his bottom lip like he was trying to suppress a laugh. “Not at the moment. You have your secrets, and I have mine.”
“I’m not going to thank you for your help. You are still the epitome of everything that I hate, and I think you and I have very different definitions of people that deserve to be hurt…or killed even. ”
His eyes danced with the reflection of the flickering light above us, and I knew he had killed before. “My secret stays between us,” he murmured, his eyes tracking down to my lips.
“I’ll decide that,” I growled.
His hand brushed my skin where the high slit of the dress exposed my thigh, making me catch my breath. My skin tingled with heat where his fingers grazed across my flesh.
“You’re lying. You’re not sure what to believe yet, and you’ll keep it to yourself until it serves you.” How did he know what I thought…what I felt? He’d hit the nail on the head. I wouldn’t tell the King until I knew how to use it against him. “Clever move, Blondie. I like that you’re not impulsive and reckless. You weigh out your decisions and calculate the risks first.” He smiled. “But I would recommend you keep that information to yourself, or things may get ugly for you.”
“Now who’s threatening who?” I scoffed.
“Not a threat—a warning. Believe me… It could get a lot worse.” He leaned his head closer until I could feel the heat coming off his face, his nose, his lips.
“I’m engaged. Get away from me,” I snarled.
He chuckled darkly, and I felt the brush of his fingers leave my skin, relieving me of the pressure that began building inside.
“I don’t see a ring.” He was right. Diesel had never asked me to marry him, only told me it was so. Kane watched every movement of my face as I warred it over in my head.
“We both know you would escape this engagement at the first opportunity.” How did he see right through me? He knew more about me in the short time we had spent together than most people knew after months. He saw right through every one of my pretenses. The steel gray eyes that looked into my soul made me squirm uncomfortably. “But you still love him…Interesting. You just can’t stand anybody telling you what to do.”
He stepped back with a smirk. Will’s kind face flashed across my memory once more, and I crossed my hands over my chest, hugging myself tight. For some reason, it felt like he had split me open and inspected my insides. I stared at the floor as I spoke, unable to look him in the eye. “Did you kill the doctor in Rollins?”
“I took care of him.”
“Is he dead?” I enunciated every word. I wanted an answer, not a cleverly minced sentence.
“No, the good doctor still lives.”
My eyes snapped back to his face. “And how long will you let it stay that way?”
His eyes flashed like maybe I’d…hurt him with the question, but it quickly faded.
“What do you see when you look at me?” He asked suddenly.
The question caught me off guard, but I didn’t hesitate to answer. “A vile monster.”
He swallowed, his jaw clenching. “You’d be wise to remember that.” His voice had gone too quiet. His hand reached up and rubbed the back of his neck, drawing my gaze in, and I immediately noticed the still-healing wound on his hand. It looked like a—bite mark between his thumb and forefinger.
“You!” I gasped.
He noticed where my eyes had landed and pulled his hand out to inspect his wound.
“Yes. Your teeth hurt quite a lot, and thank you for almost giving me hypothermia.”
My mouth fell open in shock. He really tried to smuggle me away, and now he blamed me for it .
“Why?” I asked through tight lips.
“I didn’t want you to come here,” he said, leveling me with his gray-eyed stare.
“Why, so you could bring me in yourself? Get all the accolades that you so clearly thrive on.”
He chuckled. “Something like that.” He moved back, and for the first time since we came in, it felt like I could take a full breath.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” he said and moved toward the door before I stopped him, my jaw still hanging open from his revelation. I gathered enough sense to call out to him before he left.
“Wait.” He turned to me once more. “Why did you do it? Why did you let us go in Rollins? Then try to take me again in Three Forks?”
He contemplated his words carefully before speaking. “A mistake. One I won’t make again.” With that, he was gone, vanishing into the shadows once more. Which was a mistake: letting me go or not being able to take me?